Recognising and Realising the Field of Systems Research in Itself and for Itself
The 2026 Agenda for the Cybersystemic Community
Bibliographic Data
Systems thinking emerged as a transdisciplinary movement that sought to bridge the sciences, humanities and practices of change. Today, it spans many fields but risks losing coherence as its core ideas are repeatedly rediscovered and reapplied without deepening their theoretical roots. This paper draws on the experiences of the cybersystemic community under the roof of the International Federation for Systems Research (IFSR) and a scoping review of three journals: Systems Research and Behavioural Science , Systems Practice and Action Research and the Journal of Awareness‐Based Systems Change . It maps 10 clusters of contemporary systems research that emerged from 2020 to 2025. The analysis reveals wide application yet limited synthesis, suggesting that while the field is vibrant, it struggles to integrate its philosophical foundations. Using Jürgen Renn's concept of epistemic networks, the paper reinterprets systems research as a living ecology of ontological, epistemological and axiological commitments. Rather than seeking unity through control, the next phase of the field can nurture coherence through relationship, recognising and realising the field of systems research in and for itself. The IFSR 2026 agenda explores the conditions for the possibility of cultivating shared spaces of learning, encouraging plural ways of knowing, and regenerating the epistemic commons that sustain systems inquiry as a dynamic, reflective and life‐affirming practice
Nature versus nurture · Plural · Reflexivity · Soft Systems Methodology · Systems theory · Systems thinking · Complex Systems and Decision Making · Embodied and Extended Cognition · Sustainability and Climate Change Governance
Systemic Intervention
Rethinking agency—The 2022 agenda for the systems community
Valuing who we are in relation to others
Navigating the polycrisis—governing for transformation
Growing a community of conversation and understanding
Reimagining Systems Thinking as Cybersystemic Researching
Transcending Systems Thinking
From the History of Science to Geoanthropology
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